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60" entry opening - double doors? Or sidelight?

10 years ago

We've got a 60" opening in our entryway. If we went with double doors do you think 30" is too narrow for every day use? I'm assuming we'd almost never open both unless moving furniture.

I'd ideally love to get a 36" and a 24"sidelight with a hinge but I don't know if that exists or would look weird and asymmetrical.

I'm lost - would love any advice!

Featured Answer

joeltpro

8 years ago

I personally replaced my single door and sidelights for a double door in my house, and we loved it. Now we're building, and we have 7 sets of double doors on our house (3 front, 4 back). They went in this weekend, and they're my single favorite feature!

North Georgia House

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Comments (8)

virgilcarter
10 years ago
Or a 36" wide door and two sidelights? It all depends on your house architecture and style.

Good luck with your project?
bevangel_i_h8_h0uzz
10 years ago
I say, go with a 36 inch wide door and two sidelights.

We have a 32" half light door leading from our mudroom to the screened porch and then a second 32" door from the screened porch to the garage. That's the direction we come and go on a regular basis. It's okay but it can feel just a smidgeon tight when one is carrying several bags of groceries. If I had it to do over again, I'd have used 36" doors in both locations. And I definitely don't think I'd be at all happy if the doors were two inches narrower.
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lazy_gardens
10 years ago
You can get a 36" door and two sidelights, with one of them hinged (like an assymetrical french door) for bringing in couches and refrigerators.
cpate
10 years ago
Arhsub-

I don't think a 60 inch POCKET door at the main entry (or for any other exterior door) is a good idea at all. Pocket doors require that there be a hollow "pocket" for them to slide into when you open them. That means you cannot have any insulation in the pocket. You would have a door-sized uninsulated spot in your exterior wall. NOT a good idea!

And, even if you live in an area with very moderate temperatures so that insulation is hardly necessary at all, how exactly would you securely lock an exterior pocket door? Yes, you can get little latch kits to "lock" interior pocket doors but they are so small that there is no way I'd be willing to trust such a latch for exterior security.

Plus, pocket doors necessarily have a little bit of a gap between the face and back of the door and pocket framing. It has to be there for the door to slide freely. It's not an issue with interior doors but with exterior doors, that little gap between the exterior face of the door and the pocket framing would be an invitation for bugs, wasps, spiders and even small snakes to crawl into the pocket and then out the gap on the back side and into your house.

Even worse, they might take residence IN the pocket. Imagine if you went on vacation of something and didn't use the door for a couple of weeks. You could come back to discover that mud daubers had built several nests inside the pocket that now blocke you from opening the door at all. Dry mud dauber nests are quite HARD! And, the only way to get access into the pocket to clean them out would be to take down the door entirely.

Finally, a 60 inch pocket door requires twice that much space. 60 inches for the door itself and 60 inches for the pocket it slides into when open. If OP had 120 inches of space available, she could simply have her builder reframe a 72 inch wide opening and have double 36 inch wide doors.

No, EXTERIOR pocket doors are NOT a good idea. I hope you're not planning such a thing yourself.
theballs
10 years ago
We have a 60" double front door. I LOVE it. Im sorry I dont have any pics. Our house faces west, and on those beautiful evenings when the temp is just right, we open them both and let the breeze blow.
bevbodart
8 years ago
Did you ever find a 36" door with a 24" sidelight?
gwlake
8 years ago

My old house had wide double doors. After have this vs door with sidelights. Double door no contest. My new build has double doors.

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